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Kelly is having another Singles Day, so I wanted to share about my youngest sister, Diana! Diana is 34 and a Physician Assistant in Dallas. She’s never been married and is open to meeting and getting to know a good Christian guy.

A key thing to know about Diana is that, although she’s brainy, she can be goofy and silly, which people don’t often expect because she’s such a pretty and feminine girl. For example, when it snows in Dallas, she’s prepared with her cute winter coat, but is also all about making snow angels! I see her with a smart guy that has a good sense of humor and doesn’t take himself too seriously.

Diana describes herself as a social introvert. Her friends are very important to her, and she loves to spend time and travel with them. When she moves (which she has some experience with since she’s an Air Force brat), she always makes it a priority to meet new people and make friends. But she also needs her down time, which often involves hanging out in Starbucks with one or five books (the usual lineup includes a Bible study, a memoir, and a medical book). I’d love to see her meet a guy that enjoys reading and would take her on Starbucks dates.

Diana loves to travel – we actually moved to Italy when she was less than a year old, and didn’t return to the States until she was in elementary school. She’s been back to Europe with her friends, and is taking our parents on a river cruise through Europe this summer. The picture above is from a trip she took my parents on to California (I think). The one on the left is my mom – sorry guys, she’s taken!

It’s been a long time since I’ve visited my little corner of the Internet. All is well, I was just busy gestating my third baby…another difficult pregnancy…and getting acclimated to being the mother of three precious – and precocious – boys.

Lately I’ve been concerned by what seems to be an upsurge in violence in my city, Houston. Was it always like this and I just didn’t notice? I was making the typical “What is this world coming to” comments, but it finally occurred to me that I should pray rather than complain.

Pregnancy #3 started off with a bang with crippling exhaustion and extreme cravings that leave me feeling like eating is all there is to live for.

I don’t know if it’s my age, or the fact that this is my third pregnancy, or just how things are working out this time around, but I don’t remember having such strong pregnancy symptoms this early on before. I remember feeling exhausted with both Michael and Cruz during the first trimester, but not this utter despair at the thought of walking the ten steps from my spot on the couch to the kitchen. I daydream about staying in bed all day watching old episodes of Matlock and periodically drifting off to sleep.

If I had to describe first-trimester-exhaustion to someone that’s never been pregnant (men, I’m talking to you), I’d say it’s like having bronchitis without the hacking cough. I’ve seen it described as feeling like having an extreme workout and then running a marathon, but I disagree. I’ve never run a marathon (and am pretty confident that I never will), but there was a time in my life when I was single and care-free when I used to work out. That feeling of exhaustion from expending all your energy is different than what I’ve felt while incubating a baby. It’s more like when your body is fighting a virus and you have no energy to begin with.

So I’m left on the couch thinking about the food that I want to eat. I don’t remember having specific cravings with Cruz, but I clearly remember craving Mexican food when I was pregnant with Michael. This is unusual for me because I’m not a big fan of Mexican food. It’s not even in my top 5, maybe even my top 10. But I got pregnant with Michael and obsessed over Tex Mex.

The Tex Mex craving has revisited me this time around. Also, spicy food, all manner of protein, and Chinese food. And when I say that I’m having cravings, it’s not like, “I could really go for some hot and sour soup. Maybe we’ll go eat Chinese this weekend.” It’s more like, “I shall move heaven and earth to get my hands on a bowl of hot and sour soup! GOD HELP THE HAPLESS SOUL THAT GETS IN MY WAY!”

Unfortunately, my cravings come with a couple of complications: lactose issues and heartburn. I put the hurt on a bowl of spicy queso the other day and paid for it all afternoon. Cheese is now dead to me, as are all dairy products. I bought almond milk for my coffee and cereal and asked my husband to knock some sense into me if he ever sees me anywhere near cheese or a cheese-like product.

And then there’s the heartburn. Oh, Heartburn, giver of nausea and asthma attacks, why must you visit me? But this time around I’m handling it like a boss. I’ve strategically placed Tums throughout the house like an addict hiding her stash. Kitchen, foyer, bathroom, bedroom…pretty much anywhere I go I can lay my hands on antacid.

Once I satisfy my cravings and deal with the heartburn, I’m left feeling like I never want to see food again. The kitchen becomes No (Wo)Man’s Land and food odors are my kryptonite. I don’t even want to discuss how I’ve been affected by the intestinal issues that my youngest, diaper-wearing child has been dealing with this week or I may start crying.

So there you have it. I’m either obsessing over food cravings or avoiding all food-related sights/smells. My stomach, it’s a contradiction.

In other news, I’m already wearing maternity pants. And I’m sure that has nothing to do with anything else in this post.

I found the idea for this pregnancy announcement on Pinterest and knew it was just right for us since I spent the entire nine months of both of my previous pregnancies throwing up (there I am in the background in case you didn’t notice).

The truth is that I did not have easy pregnancies (don’t believe me? read the posts listed here). In saying that I’m afraid that I’m going to seem insensitive to women that haven’t been able to get pregnant or carry a baby full-term. And I don’t mean to be insensitive, because I truly understand what a privilege it has been to carry and give birth to two beautiful amazing boys.

But at the same time, I feel strongly that I need to be honest about just how difficult it was so that other women that had similar pregnancies to mine know that they are not alone. Because it’s really sad and lonely to finally be pregnant with the baby you’ve been hoping and praying for, only to not enjoy the pregnancy like everyone around you expects you to. And I wanted to be happy! It’s just so hard when you’re throwing up every day and in pain every second and having lots of asthma attacks and breathing problems.

The last month of my last pregnancy was especially difficult because I had what was most likely bronchitis and/or pneumonia. We couldn’t determine which for sure because I couldn’t have an x-ray. I coughed constantly, and every cough felt like I was being stabbed in the abdomen due to my big beautiful baby sitting high up under what used to be my ab muscles.The pain was so bad and constant that I felt like I was going insane and would cry out of pain and frustration because there was nothing the doctors could do. I couldn’t care for my older son and often had to have my mother or mother-in-law stay with us to help out. It felt like I was living in a nightmare.

Throughout all of that, I declared, “This is it! No more babies! The factory is closed!” And since I was 37 when I had Cruz, that seemed likely.

But then, about a year ago, I started to have Thoughts. And Longings. I felt like a crazy person even thinking about getting pregnant again. I kept trying, unsuccessfully, to push those thoughts out of my mind. I finally mentioned those crazy thoughts to my husband so that he could declare that there would be no more babies from us, but the joke was on me because it turned out he really wanted another baby but thought that option was off the table.

So we talked and thought and prayed over the next couple of months. And I spent a lot of time thinking about how difficult my pregnancies were, and how difficult the newborn months are, and how tired I am all the time, and how I can forget about starting a business or any new endeavor like that for the next couple of years at least. And all of those thoughts really depressed me.

But something surprising happened. The more time that went on, the more I felt in my spirit that it was God’s will for me to be pregnant again. I know that may sound crazy to some people, and honestly, it felt a bit crazy to me too. But I just couldn’t get away from that feeling. When it came right down to it, I felt that refusing to even try to get pregnant would place me in direct disobedience to God, and that’s not a place that I want to ever be.

So we tried. I got pregnant with both Michael and Cruz during the first couple of months of trying, and we expected the same this time around. But it took about five months. I’m glad that God worked it out that way, because during those months of trying I realized that I really did want to get pregnant again. It gave me time to wrap my mind around the whole thing and to come to terms with the very real possibility of another difficult pregnancy. It was scary to think about, but I became so convinced that this was God’s will for our lives right now that I was also anxious to see what He had planned.

I finally conceived a few weeks after turning 39. I am now in the eighth week. We had our first ultrasound last week and saw our little baby and heard the heartbeat for the first time. We posted the announcement on Facebook a couple of days ago, something we didn’t do this early on with my last two pregnancies. I’m well aware that the chance of miscarriage is still high, and I’m praying that my little baby remains healthy and strong, but no matter how this turns out I know we’re where God wants us right now. I’ve been telling Michael that there’s a baby growing in my belly (Cruz is still too young to understand), and we’ve looked at pictures of how a fetus develops. It’s fun to see him starting to process all of that since all he understood about my last pregnancy was that it made me walk funny.

One more thing – everyone is asking me if we’re trying for a girl. I’m not gonna lie and say that hasn’t been a topic of conversation between me and Garrett, especially when we first talked about getting pregnant again. But before we even tried I knew that, boy or girl, there was another little person that God wanted us to try for. So it really isn’t about having a girl…it’s just about adding another little person to our family.

And it wouldn’t hurt my feelings any if you prayed for an easier pregnancy and healthy baby.

So it’s been a weird but somewhat productive week. Last week the kids got sick, so my Thursday of Freedom (when the kids are usually in preschool/MDO for 5 hours) turned into a trip to the pediatrician and cuddling a sick baby. Would I be an awful person if I said that my little one’s fever resulted in great cuddle time? Yes? Never mind.

I’ve also been working on updating my app, Lamplight, for iOS 7. And yes, I’m super-late getting to that. It’s coming along. Hopefully I’ll get it done before the next rev of the iOS comes out.

1. Benefit Watt’s Up – I got one of these as a sample and LOVE IT. I use it in the inside corner of my eyes (next to my nose) and on my brow bone. I’m definitely getting the full-size version when this sample runs out.

2. Sonic Cherry Limeade – I’ve had quite the thing for these lately. Sonic has happy hour between 2-4pm when drinks are half-off, so I like to pick one up after picking up the kids from school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And I always always always get the Route 44 size. Funny(ish) story: one day I looked at the huge cup that my Route 44 cherry limeade came in and sincerely said to my husband, “I wonder how many ounces this is?” He looked at me like I was the dumbest person on the planet. So when Garrett wants to feel superior, he can always bring up the Route 44 or the kazoo (that’s another story).

3. Belight Software’s Art Text 2 – To fit in with the iOS 7 look and feel, I’ve created brand new icons for Lamplight. Lamplight is a universal app (meaning it’ll run on iPhones and iPads), so I have to create an icon for each device and resolution, as well as different sizes for the various places the icon may show up. So far, that’s 14 icons. That little chore would be truly awful if it wasn’t for Art Text. I can design the icon once, then easily resize it for whatever dimensions I need.

I also used Art Text to create my website banner and other images for this blog.

(By the way, I’m not a graphic designer, so please don’t ask me about logos. I’m just too cheap to hire someone, so I make do.)

4. Hillsong’s Forever Reign – I love this song so much. It describes so well the way that I feel about God. And I love the way that it proclaims the name of Jesus. Check out the video below.

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